This was the first time in too long I have felt inspired to drop everything to take a photo. I passed this like I always do driving to the street I live on. The sun was out after a long gray day, and an even longer, grayer winter. I am finally feeling better after being sick for over a week, and the sun on my face gives me a touch of happiness. “Sweetness Follows” is playing in my car, and there is this lake, almost frozen, the sun fighting its way through the trees, and a bit of mist is rolling onto the water.

I wish I could look at this and feel the way I did, but unfortunately I didn’t do that moment justice. I’ll own that… and that’ll make me want to get it right next time.

Last year following Hurricane Sandy I went to several hard-hit areas in New Jersey and New York to document the destruction, the struggles, and the humanity of what this powerful natural disaster did.

I wanted to commemorate this one year anniversary with some photos I didn’t share on my blog. I think I was just burned out at that point, thinking about, writing about, looking at the aftermath… my heart just broke for all affected.

These are from Far Rockaway, New York about 3 weeks after the storm.

Time permitting I will be making a return trip here, and to the other places I visited to see what it looks like today.

These are from the bayside. Notice the boat and remains of a houseboat.

You can see straight underneath the house to the bay.

These boats were washed up a good 40 feet from the current bay level.

Ocean side was terrible. The boardwalk was gone, only the old concrete handball courts broke up the landscape of construction vehicles and sand.

As I moved away from the beach, I met this man – a volunteer who was concerned for my safety. He offered me a hard hat and a reflective vest. He asked me if I did photography for a living, I told him no, I’m a singer, and he burst out in song. I can’t remember what we sang, but clearly it was a good tune!

This volunteer told me “I’m glad you’re here. Take lots of pictures. People need to see this because we need help out here.”

It was REALLY cold and rainy and these guys just weren’t dressed for it. They were taking shelter out of the wind and the rain.

I started to make my way across what would be the street to the residential area.

All of these cars were completely drowned in seawater.

The whole city was without power or water. I don’t know how people did it.

If there was a silver lining to my experiences here it was meeting all the folks who were there to help.